The present disclosure relates to video playback devices which use a recording medium storing a video and additional information associated with the video, and video recording devices which record a video and additional information associated with the video to a recording medium.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H07-67066 describes a video recording device which records a video as a file to a recording medium, such as a semiconductor memory device etc.
Such a video recording device which records a video as a file may also record additional information associated with a captured video to a recording medium. Examples of the additional information include technical information about a video compression scheme used in recording the video etc., and information about a subject itself of the video, a place where the video has been captured, etc.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2007-082088 describes a video recording device which records additional information associated with a video in association with the time axis of the video. Specifically, this video recording device includes an additional information input button as additional information input means involved in the user's action. The additional information input button includes three buttons which are provided on a side surface of a camcorder. Of the three buttons, for example, a first button is for registering an important scene, a second button is for switching a mode between a button operation mode and a character input mode, and a third button is for canceling registration. By pressing down the additional information input button when an important scene is encountered during shooting, additional information such as a mark, a text, etc. can be added to the important captured scene. Note that text information may be input by the video recording device recognizing a video or an audio and automatically generating a text corresponding to the video or the audio.
Thus, a marker for an important scene is stored in association with a video. This makes it dramatically easier to pick up important portions from a long video when the video is subsequently edited and used (e.g., only important portions are extracted and used in a news program). When a text is used as additional information, a video can be searched using the additional information, and therefore, the reuse of the video is dramatically facilitated.
Note that the additional information is typically recorded to the same recording medium in which the corresponding video is recorded, in association with the video, by being stored as an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) file or a text file or being embedded as a metadata in a video file.
It is assumed that a video captured by a video recording device is transferred from a place where shooting is performed to another place. For example, during news gathering, a news journalist or reporter from a broadcast station may desire to send a video captured on location to the station soon after shooting.
As described above, additional information is recorded as a text file or metadata in a video file, and therefore, when files recorded in a recording medium are directly transferred, a video and its additional information are transferred to a remote place while an association therebetween is maintained. Specifically, when all files recorded in a recording medium are transferred through Internet access using the File Transfer Protocol (FTP), a video can be transferred without loss of its additional information.
However, in practical situations, it is often difficult to find Internet access whose speed is high enough to transfer a video file having image quality needed by a broadcast station in a practical time, at a remote location. In such circumstances, a video transmission device for a television broadcasting system which is called a remote pickup unit (RPU) or a microwave link is commonly used.
The RPU is a video transmission device which includes a transmitter and a receiver. Ultra-high frequency (UHF) waves or microwaves are used for communication between the transmitter and the receiver. A video (images and sounds) to be transmitted is supplied to the transmitter by directly inputting signals of a video camera, a microphone, etc. to the transmitter through a coaxial cable. In other words, the RPU transmits only images and sounds captured by a video camera to a remote place.
This means that additional information which is added during shooting is lost through the RPU and therefore is not found by the receiver of the video. In other words, due to the use of the RPU, the above benefits (an improvement in search performance, etc.) of the additional information are lost.